Developing a More Comprehensive Approach to Mental Health Assessment

Psychology Professor Andres De Los Reyes Receives Fulbright to Conduct Research in Canada

Assessing mental health in children and adolescents can be extremely challenging, particularly when adults in a young person’s life observe starkly different behaviors: For instance, parents report hyperactivity and anxiety in their child at home, but teachers experience a calm, focused student.

University of Maryland Psychology Professor Andres De Los Reyes has spent nearly two decades studying these discrepancies in how adults view children’s mental health in an effort to better target and monitor treatment. Now, De Los Reyes will have an opportunity to further this work at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada as the 2020-21 Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Mental Health.

“This gives me an opportunity to work with people who I may not otherwise be able to collaborate with, and allows me to push my work into new directions,” De Los Reyes said.

De Los Reyes will collaborate with Professors Gordon Asmundson and Nicholas Carleton in the Department of Psychology at the University of Regina on his project entitled, “Improving the Interpretability of the Discrepancies Observed in Comprehensive Mental Health Assessments.” The researchers will focus on social anxiety in particular and developing new tools for analyzing the condition in children, adolescents and adults.

Although De Los Reyes was originally planning to travel to the University of Regina this fall, the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed plans back to March of 2021. He says he looks forward to the challenge of adapting the research project to fit these unique times.

“I’ve been brainstorming with my team here at UMD on ways we can expand on our knowledge of social anxiety in a world of social distancing,” De Los Reyes said.

In addition to his research, De Los Reyes will spend some time working with and mentoring graduate students at the University of Regina. Guiding early-career researchers is something De Los Reyes is passionate about and is the subject of a book he wrote earlier this year, “The Early Career Researcher’s Toolbox.”

“It’s a hobby of mine to see what people want to do in the future,” De Los Reyes said. “I also learn a whole lot about what I care about when I work with students. There are many things our lab has done when it comes to research that would not have happened if I had not collaborated in that way.”

De Los Reyes serves as Director of the Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program at the University of Maryland and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. He is one of more than 800 U.S. citizens who will teach, conduct research, and/or provide expertise abroad for the 2020-2021 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as record of service and demonstrated leadership in their respective fields.

Published on Wed, Aug 12, 2020 - 3:38PM